Much of the white, blue collar middle class in America is apparently quite upset. Their reaction was to vote overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the recent Presidential election. They rejected Hillary Clinton as an insider elitist.

They talked of wanting a solid economic future different from what they have today. They are tired of stagnating wages and lack of well paying jobs to give them and their children the same kind of future that previous generations had.

But the irony is that these same people have recently been firmly in the camp of Republicans because of their conservative ideals. The socially conservative views on abortion, immigration, civil rights, gay marriage, and other issues has led them to support Republicans, who have worked tirelessly to destroy unions and decrease taxes on the rich apparently fit quite well with where they put the blame on the decline of opportunity in America. As Republicans have steadily decreased the power of unions and union enrollment, wages have decreased. Meanwhile, the rich that own and control corporate American have seen their taxes reduced and have been empowered by erosion of campaign finance rules and legislative and court actions like Citizens United that have made money equal to free speech. Which serves to further erode the power of unions and grow the financial gap between the richest Americans and everyone else.

As a liberal elite (upper middle class with a college education, a house, and a strong financial position) I struggle quite a bit with how the white, blue collar middle class largely continues to support policies and positions that make their economic situation worse. As Republicans implement policies these folks have voted them into office to do, their position in life has become worse and their future less secure. This, in turn, has been creating more anger at the “liberal elites” and more of a willingness to vote against their own best interests.

4 thoughts on “Look In The Mirror Lately?”

Alright now that we elected him, the ones who got him where he is has to make sure that they get what was promised. One thing that we can agree on is that we are 1000 times better off with Donald than if Granny C’ would’ve won. Thank god we beat the system and got him elected.

Good luck getting half of what he promised! I don’t see it happening. He certainly doesn’t appear interested in fulfilling his promises based on his cabinet full of uber wealthy political and big banking insiders.

And no, we cannot agree that we are better off with Trump than we would have been with Hillary Clinton. She would have made a very good President and would have continued the fantastic progress we’ve made under President Obama.

Must be nice to live in the parallel universe I do. In mine, most cops are over-entitled, crooked, racist guys in uniform making black kids felons and treating people of other colors different, repeatedly. Do you live in Chicago??? T

AND, to assume my colleague doesn’t care about people is what prompted this response. First, my colleague cares mightily. Second, how much time has Trump spent in public service–that darn bone spur in his foot. I lost a brother in that war–want to know what I think of a NY-preppy paying off a doctor because he was too scared to help his country. And to think anyone is brainwashed if they support Clinton isn’t very…intelligent. She’s got more qualifications than anyone who ever ran for POTUS. Emails vs. colluding with the Russians. Don’t Trumpers EVER admit when their president makes a huge mistake? Or is he, like all his followers, perfect. — That parallel universe thing.

Interesting, isn’t it, skokielib, that Trump supporters NEVER respond to the dishonest or dumb stuff he has done? They just call us names. Bullies — just like their POTUS. Except they’re to afraid to face those who don’t agree with him. But they’re great name callers!